1879 Events Management marks biggest event

A North East event company is full of “Pride” after successfully providing the hospitality for a three day celebration of the LGBT community.
1879 Events Management, a subsidiary of Sunderland AFC, earlier this year signed a three year contract with Northern Pride to deliver catering facilities at LGBT festival Newcastle Pride.

The festival, which took place over the weekend of July 18 – 20, was extended for the first time from one day to three days, making it the largest free festival of its kind in the country.
1879 Events Management extended its remit to cover general catering for the entire weekend along with providing a sit down three-course meal for Platinum guests and sponsors.
“We have provided the entire catering and bar operation for Pride for the last two years, which led to us signing a new three year deal,” said Gary Hutchinson, director of 1879 Events Management.
“And the decision for the event to be extended to three days obviously meant that we had to increase our operation but naturally we are delighted to have risen to the challenge at what was our biggest external event to date.”
Around 65,000 people attended Newcastle Pride across the entire weekend, with the event being split across two sites.
1879 Events Management provided 10 bars and eight catering trailers, along with a VIP tent and marquee for Platinum guests, who enjoyed a more formal three-course lunch.
“We had over 150 staff involved and were delighted with the feedback from our client, who was thrilled with the whole operation and the standard of food in the VIP areas,” said Mr Hutchinson.
“The sheer size of the event meant that we had put months of preparation into its organisation but that definitely paid off.
“We were also able to show Pride’s organisers the added value that we as events management experts can bring, as we also assisted in selling advance tickets for the golden circle, VIP and platinum areas.
“We are already looking forward to starting to plan next year’s event in the near future.”
Mark Nichols, chair of Northern Pride, added that the partnership between the organisation and 1879 was “hugely successful.”
“1879 Events Management completely rose to the challenge of extending their operation across the three days of Pride and providing catering to such a high standard for our VIP and Platinum areas,” he said.
“We’ve had excellent feedback from many of the people who attended about the quality of what was on offer and we look forward to working with 1879 Events Management going forward.”